Would you consider Vargr, Aslan, Droyne, Hiver or K'Kree from Traveller as  Anthropomorphic?
Would you play them completely differently than in a fantasy setting?

Having read loads of anthro animal books (Redwall, Duncton Wood (moles), Watership Down (rabbits), The Silver Tide (squirrels) and many others), I'm a fan of the genre. Of course, I've played lots and even wrote several (Tales From The Wood, It's a Dog's Life and Return of the Woodland Warriors).

Quote from: the crypt keeper on June 11, 2022, 10:00:45 AM
I was dissatisfied with the anthro games available so I made my own. Anthropomorphic USR https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/187271/Anthropomorphic-USR?term=anthropomorphic+usr

Interesting, will have to add that to my wishlist for the next time I have some mad money from DTRPG.

Quote from: Chris24601 on June 10, 2022, 09:43:01 AM
My friends once tried playing a session of Iron Claw (basically anthropomorphic D&D). Only thing I remember is that I leaned hard into it with dog paladin named "Dominic St. Bernard."

We used Iron Claw to do a Final Fantasy-esque game.

In our case, the anthropomorphic stuff faded into the background pretty quickly as the game went on. The system worked okay, but was kind of overcomplicated for what it did.

Would the Wolfen from Palladium Fantasy count?

Quote from: Greentongue on June 11, 2022, 11:53:41 AM
Would you consider Vargr, Aslan, Droyne, Hiver or K'Kree from Traveller as  Anthropomorphic?
Would you play them completely differently than in a fantasy setting?

The term Anthropomorphic is just a catchall term. Transformers are anthropomorphic vehicles. Technically the CGI movies Cars are as well. Just in a wildly different way. The term itself has little meaning in the larger useage.

Alot of RPGs and nearly every religion and folk tale set have at least one type of beast folk for whatever reason.
D&D orcs were originally boar headed beast folk. Gnolls are hyena people. Think it was either Hobgoblins or Bugbears that were baboon people. Kobolds were dogmen and so on.
RuneQuest had the Broo and other beast folk.
Traveller has the Aslan and Vargar as you mention.
Palladium Fantasy has the Wolfen.
Warhammer has Skaven, Beastmen, Slaan, and more.
DragonRoar had berserker hedgehogs.

Each approaches it very differently and not all allow them as PCs. And this isnt even including any one-off critters produced by magic, accident or curses.

Quote from: Lurkndog on June 11, 2022, 08:30:14 PM
We used Iron Claw to do a Final Fantasy-esque game.

In our case, the anthropomorphic stuff faded into the background pretty quickly as the game went on. The system worked okay, but was kind of overcomplicated for what it did.

Exactly. Iron Claw works well for certain styles of gameplay. But the rules are indeed more convoluted than they need be. Once you get the system down its not too bad. But the system and the publisher has some inherent problems that prevent me from ever suggesting the game now.

If I were going to do FF I'd use either BESM or Oriental Adventures. D&D was the original inspiration. But it is barely discernable after the first few games.

Thanks for the replies! It certainly seems like there are a lot of anthropomorphic games out there that go beyond furry LARPing. I even forgot about RQ's Durulz lol. Good discussion.

Gamma World and its Predecessor Metamorphosis Alpha are two more examples. Depending on the edition its featuered its fair share of beast folk.

Also have a glance at Mice & Mystics, a co-op board game where the PCs are a group of humans transformed into mice and having to adapt to essentially a Beatrix Potter style world of talking animals.

Quote from: mudbanks on June 10, 2022, 05:41:10 AM
There have been a number of such games in the last decade like Pugmire, Mouseguard and Root. Just wondering if anyone here has played them, and curious as to what the experience was like. I'm pretty big on role-playing my character appropriately, and because I'm quite a big, gruff guy, I can't imagine playing as a cutesy creature. What has your experience been like?

I think your age is showing. Mouseguard came out in 2009 - well over a decade ago.

I've never actually played any - but I did read through Mouseguard. Mostly because I was curious about Burning Wheel and Mouse Guard is largely a streamlined version. Though even streamlined, it's hardly light. Had some interesting ideas - but not my jam. (Though it did send me down the rabbit-hole of the Mouseguard comics for a bit - which aren't bad. Or mouse hole?)

Speaking of...

For those curious to try Albedo, I strongly warn against the Platinum edition. Not only is it missing some bits of info, like ohhhh... the freaking alphabet! It also makes up some background that contradicts the comics. And "borrows" most of the art from the original, and adds in a few new pieces not by Steve. And the rules are just as, if not possibly more of a mess than Iron Claw.

If you are going to get the RPG. Get the original. The rules are a bit of a jumble. But once you get the combat system down it is pretty solid and can be easily adapted to running modern combat or even WWII era settings.

The comics are also pretty good and the early ones were anthologies including now famous comics like Usagi Yojimbo. Very much a grab bag of stories and styles.

Quote from: Omega on June 12, 2022, 06:41:50 AM

Quote from: Greentongue on June 11, 2022, 11:53:41 AM
Would you consider Vargr, Aslan, Droyne, Hiver or K'Kree from Traveller as  Anthropomorphic?
Would you play them completely differently than in a fantasy setting?

The term Anthropomorphic is just a catchall term. Transformers are anthropomorphic vehicles. Technically the CGI movies Cars are as well. Just in a wildly different way. The term itself has little meaning in the larger useage.

Alot of RPGs and nearly every religion and folk tale set have at least one type of beast folk for whatever reason.
D&D orcs were originally boar headed beast folk. Gnolls are hyena people. Think it was either Hobgoblins or Bugbears that were baboon people. Kobolds were dogmen and so on.
RuneQuest had the Broo and other beast folk.
Traveller has the Aslan and Vargar as you mention.
Palladium Fantasy has the Wolfen.
Warhammer has Skaven, Beastmen, Slaan, and more.
DragonRoar had berserker hedgehogs.

Each approaches it very differently and not all allow them as PCs. And this isnt even including any one-off critters produced by magic, accident or curses.

I've been working on a few ideas for beastmen. One that I've had is that they're not a species but a culture and religion. They're humans who worship the Beast Lords, fable-esque deities of the animals, and develop animal features as a result of venerating a specific totem. Each clan or tribe venerates a different totem, like Bear, Wolf, Lion, Eagle, or Tiger.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on June 14, 2022, 09:56:10 AM
I've been working on a few ideas for beastmen. One that I've had is that they're not a species but a culture and religion. They're humans who worship the Beast Lords, fable-esque deities of the animals, and develop animal features as a result of venerating a specific totem. Each clan or tribe venerates a different totem, like Bear, Wolf, Lion, Eagle, or Tiger.

So - sort of a non-evil Chaos Warriors who get animalistic features rather than weird mutations?

A big question - would the animalistic features always be an advantage? (A pet peeve of mine in fiction is how animal features are virtually always advantageous relative to human ones. Humans got became dominant for a reason!)

Quote from: Charon's Little Helper on June 14, 2022, 07:26:01 AM
I think your age is showing. Mouseguard came out in 2009 - well over a decade ago.

Haha! Time flies. Everything always feels like last decade, if not yesteryear.

Quote from: Charon's Little Helper on June 14, 2022, 11:58:11 AM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on June 14, 2022, 09:56:10 AM
I've been working on a few ideas for beastmen. One that I've had is that they're not a species but a culture and religion. They're humans who worship the Beast Lords, fable-esque deities of the animals, and develop animal features as a result of venerating a specific totem. Each clan or tribe venerates a different totem, like Bear, Wolf, Lion, Eagle, or Tiger.

So - sort of a non-evil Chaos Warriors who get animalistic features rather than weird mutations?

Yes. They're essentially using the primal power source from 4e (i.e. includes druids and berserkers).

Quote from: Charon's Little Helper on June 14, 2022, 11:58:11 AMA big question - would the animalistic features always be an advantage? (A pet peeve of mine in fiction is how animal features are virtually always advantageous relative to human ones. Humans got became dominant for a reason!)

Not necessarily. It depends on the features. But obviously these are overshadowed by their human intelligence.